What Jazz are you listening to now?

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

That was a beautiful solo track, BN. Pity the album is so hard to find.
I've always loved the Chet Baker & Paul Bley duet album 'Diane':

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl5wuQn0KJk[/url

JR

Agreed! And anyone who dismisses Chet's chops even in later years, his willingness to be totally exposed and the sheer beauty of his playing when he WANTED too, this is magical from that album....Chet Baker/Paul Bley..."If I should lose you":

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Bley/Baker..."I I should lose you"

http://youtu.be/Rl5wuQn0KJk

[Serial_Apologist]

The familiar faces in the audience were absent last night.

I had the same impression at the Keith Tippett/Matthew Bourne concert at the Purcell last Sunday: I only recognised 4 regulars from places like Cafe Oto and the Vortex: John Cumming (who from his rushing about having quick chats with various individuals beforehand and during the break probably had something to do with the event), the fellow who organises at The Vortex and the big bald barman from there, and a short bespectacled man in probably his late 60s. Most of the balanced mixed gender audience were probably mid-middle aged - late forties to mid-fifties; absent were the groups of contemporaries and younger followers who always used to be in attendance at such events, "checking out" as they would say, and even of critics like John Fordham. Same for Pat Thomas at Cafe Oto on Monday.

[Ian Thumwood]

Picking up on a few points from earlier posts, the booklet in the Goodman box set mentions tension regarding the clarinettist being reluctant to make a recording session for Wilson immediately after the quartet session but the main source of animosity seems to have been with Krupa whose popularity Goodman resented. When Krupa left in 1939, he was initially replaced with Dave Tough who was less spectacular than his predecessor but underpinned the sessions with a considerable degree of drive. What is interesting is that the personnel changed rapidly in the later sessions with the likes of the unknown Buddy Shutz eventually coming in for Tough and Jess Stacey making the last session on piano. There is also a pleasing session that produced a new quartet with Hampton on drums and John Kirby on bass. I think the most intriguing record is "Pick a rib" which (apart from two modulations) is fascinating because the quartet track predicts the more hard driving / jam session spirit of the sextet. The balance and integrity of the quartet started to morph into something more modern.

The Bley track is, of course, beautiful but it is so typical of his work. He frequently explored and re-examined Carla's compositions and this one, along with "Closer", Seven" and "Ida Lupino" frequently crop up on his records. If you like tracks like that then the Soul Note boxset will be of interest. As mentioned earlier, "Tango Palace" is essential. As a solo act, I concur that Bley is far more satisfying than Bill Evans. It is strange than Bley was only three years younger yet seems to come from an entirely different generation even though his earliest gigs were with the likes of Charlie Parker, Lester Young and Ben Webster. The concept of Evans' piano playing centres around the middle 50% of the instrument and he is rarely interested in exploring the extremities of the keyboard. As a solo instrument, it is really important to play the bass notes to add depth and I feel that this immediately makes him less interesting. There are so curious interviews with Bley where he makes comments about pianos only having about 12 "good" notes which differ from instrument to instrument yet there is ample recorded evidence to show just how much he explored the potential of the keyboard. Bley is far more explorative whereas Bill Evans was really focused on voicings and harmony. I have not listened to as much Bill Evans as Paul Bley but I cannot recall hearing him in any "outside" setting. The most avant garde Evans I am aware of is he stuff the recorded with George Russell. It is no surprise that Keith Jarrett has cited Bley as his favourite pianist. I was bowled over as a teenager by Bill Evans who was a revelation to my ears when I was about 16-17. Looking back, you can see Evans as the ultimate culmination of be-bop piano. These days, I find Bley much easier to listen to than Bill Evans simply because he played so much more of the instrument. Whereas Evans was about narrowing and perfecting the concepts within which he wished to improvise and which demands thorough attention otherwise it will become aural wallpaper, there is a declamatory element within Paul Bley's approach which is more compelling. He is rather like Louis Armstrong insofar that Bley immediately grabs your attention and pulls you in to the music . You are compelled to listen. It helps that he is intensely lyrical but there is a manner in which he creates his solos that is like a great sculptor chipping away at a hard piece of stone to reveal a masterpiece. There is an element of architecture within his playing that recalls other great soloists such as Armstrong , Lester Young or Billie Holiday that has tremendous emotional clout and a quality that makes the music seem to stand by it's own accord.



.

[Jazzrook]

Paul Bley playing 'Ida Lupino' in 1988:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbCxoUFjFog

JR

[Stanfordian]

Lester Young - ‘The President plays with the Oscar Peterson Trio’
Lester Young with Oscar Peterson, Barney Kessel, Ray Brown & J.C. Heard
Norgran Records (1952)

[Serial_Apologist]

Many thanks to Ian, Bluesnik and Jazzrook for their choice selection of Paul Bley tracks.

Back in the early 1990s, the Jazz Café was located on Stoke Newington Green. For a time they organised a wonderul free entry festival on the green for a single weekend of August. I attended one of these, and on one of the days was pretty sure I spotted Paul Bley, standing alone in the audience, otherwise apparently unrecognised: a tall guy wearing thick-rimmed glasses and a slightly lopsided summer trilby hat, smoking a pipe. And I was too shy to go up and speak to him. What do you say - "Excuse me, are you Paul Bley, by any chance? I thought so... just wondered", or "You are Paul Bley, and I claim my $20.000"?

Records were on sale at that particular event; I picked up a double LP of "The Greatest of Lester Young". Later, Lol Coxhill said to me, "You got to that before me, otherwise I would have had it".

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

On Bill Evans, who seems to come up in Bley discussions, I've just been listening to a long and very open interview conducted in his car the year before he died. (He was enroute to hospital for hepatitis treatment. He was playing a load of his old tapes he'd been given. He was really enthusing about some bootlegs of the Miles band at the Bohemia, with himself, Trane, Cannon and Philly JJ. As well as praising Philly JJ, he really liked, and rediscovered, his own playing, a lot more spikey than later. Somewhere in the late 60s a lot of his energy seemed to dissipate, at least to me. The rather frenetic very late live may have been coke fueled, but never had the same mix of tension, space and attack. Chuck Israel said something everyone misses about Evans is his rhythmic sense, "unparalleled", the note placing and the dynamics. Listening to his very first Riverside album, it's a world away from the formulaic over recorded routine of the 1970s etc.

[Ian Thumwood]

On Bill Evans, who seems to come up in Bley discussions, I've just been listening to a long and very open interview conducted in his car the year before he died. (He was enroute to hospital for hepatitis treatment. He was playing a load of his old tapes he'd been given. He was really enthusing about some bootlegs of the Miles band at the Bohemia, with himself, Trane, Cannon and Philly JJ. As well as praising Philly JJ, he really liked, and rediscovered, his own playing, a lot more spikey than later. Somewhere in the late 60s a lot of his energy seemed to dissipate, at least to me. The rather frenetic very late live may have been coke fueled, but never had the same mix of tension, space and attack. Chuck Israel said something everyone misses about Evans is his rhythmic sense, "unparalleled", the note placing and the dynamics. Listening to his very first Riverside album, it's a world away from the formulaic over recorded routine of the 1970s etc.

I think that Bill Evans became a parody of himself in the 1960s. It is funny how radical he seemed when with Miles or on the early albums with La Faro and Motian but I think jazz was evolving at such a pace and the things which became important in the music so fundamentally challenged that he got left behind. His 1980s recordings are supposed to see some sort of return to form but his playing was so rooted in the late 1950s that he was never at the forefront of jazz. Even if you discounted such superior players as Hancock or Bley, the 60s saw other pianists like Jarrett, John Taylor and Corea arrive on the scene who took Evans' innovations and ran with them. There was so much great dynasticism
and dynamics in these players that I feel Evans quickly began to sound quaint. Like so much in jazz, what had been ground-breaking very quickly became the norm as the next generation caught on.

I have to say that Jazzrook's post of Paul Bley is the best thing he has ever posted on this board. I have never seen a video of Bley perform and it is a revelation watching him at the piano. It is worth noting that whilst the video is very typical, his recorded output does include a very heavy bias towards spontaneously produced work. I am always a bit wary about the Improv scene as I can appreciate it but not always enjoy. With Paul Bley the music could be abstract but there is still a pulse at the very least within the music, It is still jazz, no matter how abstract. This is key to why , even in his most outside performances, he remains compelling. He remained relevant for more than about 60 years but what has been salutary this week in hearing Marquis Hill's group perform live is the fact that Bley's recordings from 30 years ago still sound far edgier and adventurous. I love a lot about contemporary jazz yet the absence of players like Paul Bley is largely to the detriment of the music's current reputation.

[Serial_Apologist]

I think that Bill Evans became a parody of himself in the 1960s. It is funny how radical he seemed when with Miles or on the early albums with La Faro and Motian but I think jazz was evolving at such a pace and the things which became important in the music so fundamentally challenged that he got left behind. His 1980s recordings are supposed to see some sort of return to form but his playing was so rooted in the late 1950s that he was never at the forefront of jazz. Even if you discounted such superior players as Hancock or Bley, the 60s saw other pianists like Jarrett, John Taylor and Corea arrive on the scene who took Evans' innovations and ran with them. There was so much great dynasticism
and dynamics in these players that I feel Evans quickly began to sound quaint. Like so much in jazz, what had been ground-breaking very quickly became the norm as the next generation caught on.

I have to say that Jazzrook's post of Paul Bley is the best thing he has ever posted on this board. I have never seen a video of Bley perform and it is a revelation watching him at the piano. It is worth noting that whilst the video is very typical, his recorded output does include a very heavy bias towards spontaneously produced work. I am always a bit wary about the Improv scene as I can appreciate it but not always enjoy. With Paul Bley the music could be abstract but there is still a pulse at the very least within the music, It is still jazz, no matter how abstract. This is key to why , even in his most outside performances, he remains compelling. He remained relevant for more than about 60 years but what has been salutary this week in hearing Marquis Hill's group perform live is the fact that Bley's recordings from 30 years ago still sound far edgier and adventurous. I love a lot about contemporary jazz yet the absence of players like Paul Bley is largely to the detriment of the music's current reputation.

Also what Bluesnik says. Archie Shepp is another who considered Bill Evans' early work, with Miles, as more radical and risk-taking than the later .

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

"Everyone Digs Bill Evans" is a fabulous album. Evans, Sam Jones and Philly JJ. He said in the "car interview" that PJJ was in a different league to *any* drummer he'd ever played with. What I didn't know was the first post Miles trio before Lafaro was with Jimmy Garrison and Kenny Dennis, with PJJ then coming in. Evans said it was a wonderful combination, really on fire, until the club owner asked Philly not to take solos! They were playing opposite Benny Goodman and his retinue. Result, explosion, end of trio.

[Stanfordian]

Ben Webster - Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison - Oscar Peterson

‘King of the Tenors’
Ben Webster with Benny Carter, Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, Ray Brown, Alvin Stoller, J. C. Heard
Verve (1954)

‘Gee, Baby Ain’t I Good to You’
Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison with Ben Webster, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, Ray Brown, Alvin Stoller
Verve (1958)

Newly remastered release of both original albums on Factory of Sounds

[Jazzrook]

Paul Bley Trio with Mark Levinson & Barry Altschul playing Annette Peacock's 'Mr Joy' from the almost impossible-to-find 1966 album 'Blood'(FONTANA):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdEf58EMRVQ

JR

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Mark Levinson is also on the Paul Bley ECM album "Ballads", actually recorded and produced by Bley and then picked up by ECM. It's a favourite of mine. Levinson was a fine bassist and went on to design really top of the range studio and domestic amps and stereo equipment. Highly regarded

[Serial_Apologist]

Mark Levinson is also on the Paul Bley ECM album "Ballads", actually recorded and produced by Bley and then picked up by ECM. It's a favourite of mine. Levinson was a fine bassist and went on to design really top of the range studio and domestic amps and stereo equipment. Highly regarded

I had thought it was Levinson on "My Standard", from 1985, which I have, but I now see the bassist and drummer were Jasper Lundgaard and Billy Hart - one of those recordings where Bley was at his more conventional, and to which I return from time to time.